reverend brown and used his zeal and intelligence, his will to fight. he is a preacher, pastor, teacher, musician and a san francisco giant fanatic. [applause] and to all of you here today this issue of violence is a complex and challenging one. no one need to be self rightious about it because there is no instant answer to the things that all of us must. do i am impressed with the religious communities coming together. at least we should know that the issue today is peace is not the absence of noise. it's the

presence of justice. when there is no justice there is no peace and when there is poverty and pain people search out for a bomb and put off that bomb. the excitement is that we're here today with each other. we at best can reach out to those who are not here because it's not just a matter can be solved with an enlightened church. the killing in kansas city, a football player, his wife and himself. three or 4 nfl players say they carry a gun

and with basketball players the same. somewhere we're sitting around watching san francisco play miami excited who will win that game. of the tens of thousands that watch those games those role models on the field are not ministers. those athletes have a role to play in diffusing this crisis in our culture. those that do music and art and attract by the thousands. we pay to hear them sing and watch them perform. they must lift their art above deck dance and inspire and something blowing in the wind and can't recycle our worse fears. our nation has become much too violent. we're the

most violent nation on earth. we make of the most guns and we shoot them. we make the most bombs and we drop them. in this state unions larger than the teacher union and building first class jails and second class schools and [inaudible] stop the problem. each out and convene the family is the first step in the right direction. mr. mayor at this table must be disk jockeys, athletes, artists, ad agencies, all those impacts must find a place at this table. we spent $3 trillion on the war in iraq and it was the wrong target. you spend $3 trillion on the budget and tax cut for

the wealthiest americans and took their money to the camen islands and not in america and having huge threats and medicaid and medicare and threaten the scpeerns that is violence. number one and must commit ourselves to the ban on assault weapons. we lost about 6,000 americans in iraq in 10 years. lose 30 to 50,000 a home at home. 100,000 are injured and didn't die and the highest cost in any city is the emergency room hospitals in those cities where they're shot. [inaudible] shot by ak47's. we have a lot

of role in the killing of syria. 9/11 /12 in benghazi. [inaudible] yards away. we must revive the ban on these adult suspects. i don't want to. >> >> >> deemphasize the drug culture and americans and so we have this crisis mr. mayor of plants closing when the cheap labor markets, jobs leaving, drugs and guns coming. that requires a national effort by all of us. while i reach out to you in san francisco those that hear my voice please stop the killing.

please stop drug flow. please give peace a chance. in this instance means that labor unions, trade unions must open up and provide more training so they can lay a brick. it means that the education system must instill the value of strong minds and that brings strong change. take your child to school. meet your child's teachers. exchange numbers. turn the tv off at night. take a report card every nine weeks and take your child to religious celebration once a week. most of the violence is from the bottom up, not top down.

mothers say something like "i'm going to beat you boy. i'm going to beat you so the police don't have to do it one day". it was their own way of saying get some home training, some home cultivation is a big fact in the social order and we must restore homes but unemployed parents don't do as good job as parents with jobs. i'm all about welfare back to work. there are four steps involved. one the parents must have day care. if you leave the child without day care you're called an unfit parent and are arrested. you need day care. you need transportation and job training and a job. you need those four steps. what gives you an advantage in san francisco with the mayor across the bay and mayor lee here you

have leaders that care. we have leaders historically that block school doors. you don't have that here. i once asked george wallace and went to see him on his dying bed. i went to have prayer with george walos and i reached out to him and please come visit me, so we talked. i finally said "george, why did you unleash the dogs and the horse on that sunday when trying to get the right to vote?" "well, i thought you would get to that. i did it as a favor". i i don't understand. he said "if i had not let the horses kick them on this side of the bridge the mob would have been worse on the other side of the bridge. [inaudible] and it occurred to him and break up

the mob, not stone the marchers. we have that stuff in high places. the mayor of oakland and san francisco and more civil and here is a case reaching out and not pushing off. a mayor who is embracing, not finger pointing so we must do all of this together. i urge you in the challenging and closing days of this struggle is a mood of the season and high expectation and low resources that we [inaudible] in anxiety and jesus christ. maybe we're looking for the wrong reason for the season. maybe there is the struggle of values what matters the most your son being alive and going to church and not a funeral. maybe we have a power that we must unleash. we have the

power not to kill each other right now. we have the power not to shoot each other right now. we have the power not to consume drugs right now. we have the power to take our children to school right now. [inaudible] from other programs. we can change this right now. and those that go to school tend to stay and those that stay tend to graduate so to make this really happen we need parents and teachers and ministers and professionals and athletes and politicians pulling a full court press. these are our children. we can savage our children. we know where they are and who they are. we know -- they need targeted jobs and job training. you have to learn math to get

the higher paying jobs. anybody can learn both sides of a double jacket album can learn math. say anybody. they can learn. >> both sides. >> both sides. >> and double jacket of rap album can learn a foreign language and learn math our youth are wizards at using high-tech, high powered, high-tech phone systems. high-tech does nothing we cannot do. now fight to make the city and the bay safer. let's decide to choose life over death. the future is the funerals -- [inaudible] i look forward to working with you at the rainbow

coalition in the coming days and san francisco bay area, oakland and let this be the place where we break down the cycle of violence and make this the place. [applause] if montgomery can do it for public accommodations, if cellma can do it and we can do it. choice of -- [inaudible] existence. dr. king and the whole year and we will have a safer peaceful environment. i wish to you that we have a happy holiday but let's work every sunday and then sunday to send and quest to demilitarize our society and jobs and drugs and guns out and let's choose

another way. thank you very much. [applause]

>> if we could have your attention for a few minutes. reverend jackson is catching a flight and why he's rushing out so if we could hold your attention for a few moment we would appreciate it. >> mike pappas from the

interfaith council is coming to spend a couple moments on the clergy work and then we will close. >> i am in the unenviable position of following a national icon but good people i would indulge you for just a moment to hear a humble message. the theme of today's gathering peace is a prospect that we all pray for -- ah, that was -- but to get there will require the collective participation efforts, resources, and resolve of all in our city by engaging faith leaders to join in the broader effort to end violence in san francisco. mayor lee

recognizes a precious resource that could be the effective key to realize our success on this issue. at the same time he challenges us to respond to a moral obligation that is at the core of our mission as communities of faith. he also reminds us of our history. there has been no civil rights or human rights movement in which the faith communities and its leaders have not been at the forefront and i look at dr. and he is a living reminder of that truth. at the heart of civil rights movement in the years 1963 and 1964 before there was a san francisco interface council there was the san francisco conference on religion, race and social concerns which for 25 years was

the voice of social justice in the city and county of san francisco. it was that movement that gave birth to the san francisco interfaith council whose mission it is to bring people together of different faiths, to celebrate our diverse spiritual and religious traditions, build understanding, and serve our city. it was a previous mayor that challenged the interface council to step up to the place, to respond to its moral responsibility to care for the homeless at a time of crisis spun out of control, and we did. for almost a quarter of a century we have opened our congregation doors, fed and provided a warm and safe place for homeless men to sleep during the coldest and rainiest nights

of the year. it's been this mayor and his predecessors who look to what happened at hurricane katrina, saw the key role that congregation leaders, facilities and congre gants can play at the time of a diseafert disaster and called us to stakeholders and mayor lee invites us to pray as well as roll up our sleeves to solve this crisis that impacts us all. from the christian tradition to which i come we hear when one

member of the body suffers all suffer. in order to meet this daunting challenge we will need to build upon the work already begun and engage the wisdom and support of so many other prophetic voices those that have much to contribute. the tent is large and must be filled. with our collective resources we will also need to seriously address the root causes of violence, and what are those root causes? education and here i am speaking of after school services, adult education, skills development, ged services, and parent education. another being employment, and here i am speaking of jobs, job training,

and job readiness, and finally family services, and here i am speaking of intervention,at risk services, family counseling, reentry services, and victim services. unless these root causes are made priorities and supported with the resources needed our prayers will not be realized nor will our success be attained. common to all our faith traditions is the belief that the greatness of a civilization will ultimately be judged by this and i believe we can show

by our works the best of san francisco values. thank you. [applause] >> thank you again. as reverend joe calwell comes for the closing prayer let me thank the mayor and as reverend jackson said calling the family together. i will remind you we all have a role to play and if you're part of the faith community the mayor is asking to you join and if you're a part of the city family or other groups the mayor is asking to you join. thank you again for preventing violence on our streets. reverend. >> both jewish and . let us pr

mighty god we come praying your blessings upon our city leaders. we pray they have wisdom to solve pressing problems, the heart to do so much with compassion, and the moral courage to do what is right regardless of personal sacrifice. lord, we pray for our faith leaders. give them the ability to cooperate toward the common good of our city without compromising the personal convictions that make them who they are. father, we pray for victims of violence in

our city that you would provide comfort in the midst of their morning and lord we pray also for the perpetrators that lord you would provide transformation and redemption that truly solves this problem. father, we pray for the city of a city that is blessed with so much but still has great problems. lend your arm in support of these efforts. unite us, encourage us, strengthen us, protect us. go with us lord. bless this effort and this city as it under takes it and it's under your great name that we pray. amen. >> thank you all for coming

>> just a few steps away from union square is a quiet corner stone of san francisco's our community to the meridian gallery has a 20-year history of supporting visual arts. experimental music concert, and also readings. >> give us this day our daily bread at least three times a day. and lead us not into temptation to often on weekdays. [laughter] >> meridians' stands apart from the commercial galleries around union square, and it is because of their core mission, to increase social, philosophical, and spiritual change my isolated individuals and communities. >> it gives a statement, the idea that a significant art of

any kind, in any discipline, creates change. >> it is philosophy that attracted david linger to mount a show at meridian. >> you want to feel like your work this summer that it can do some good. i felt like at meridian, it could do some good. we did not even talk about price until the day before the show. of course, meridian needs to support itself and support the community. but that was not the first consideration, so that made me very happy. >> his work is printed porcelain. he transfers images onto and spoils the surface a fragile shes of clay. each one, only one-tenth of an inch thick. >> it took about two years to get it down. i would say i lose 30% of the pieces that i made. something happens to them. they cracked, the break during the process. it is very complex. they fall apart. but it is worth it to me. there are photographs i took 1

hours 99 the former soviet union. these are blown up to a gigantic images. they lose resolution. i do not mind that, because my images are about the images, but they're also about the idea, which is why there is text all over the entire surface. >> marie in moved into the mansion on powell street just five years ago. its galleries are housed in one of the very rare single family residences around union square. for the 100th anniversary of the mansion, meridian hosted a series of special events, including a world premiere reading by lawrence ferlinghetti. >> the birth of an american corporate fascism, the next to last free states radio, the next-to-last independent newspaper raising hell, the next-to-last independent bookstore with a mind of its own, the next to last leftie

looking for obama nirvana. [laughter] the first day of the wall street occupation set forth upon this continent a new revolutionary nation. [applause] >> in addition to its own programming as -- of artist talks, meridian has been a downtown host for san francisco states well-known port trees center. recent luminaries have included david meltzer, steve dixon, and jack hirsch man. >> you can black as out of the press, blog and arrest us, tear gas, mace, and shoot us, as we know very well, you will, but this time we're not turning back. we know you are finished.

desperate, near the end. hysterical in your flabbergastlyness. amen. >> after the readings, the crowd headed to a reception upstairs by wandering through the other gallery rooms in the historic home. the third floor is not usually reserved for just parties, however. it is the stage for live performances. ♪ under the guidance of musical curators, these three, meridian has maintained a strong commitment to new music, compositions that are innovative, experimental, and sometimes challenging. sound art is an artistic and event that usually receives

short shrift from most galleries because san francisco is musicians have responded by showing strong support for the programming. ♪ looking into meridian's future, she says she wants to keep doing the same thing that she has been doing since 1989. to enlighten and disturbed. >> i really believe that all the arts have a serious function and that it helps us find out who we are in a much wider sense than we were before we experienced that work of art. ♪